The Anime Blog - We Go Beyond Anime!

How did I get started in anime? I think it was 12 years ago. Some kid in my high school art class had a viewing of “Akira” as part of a “cultural influence on pop art” presentation. I didn’t get it. I liked the style, but the theme at the time, escaped me.

Later, a friend’s boyfriend, Mike, had us over and played some anime he had gotten in Japan with subtitles…it was “Legend of the Overfiend”, all of it. All I could say was “uuhhhh….??” And a whole lotta, “WTF!?” After that, said boyfriend passed around some manga, my first glimpse in the medium, and his selection was Bondage Fairies. Once again, “uuuuhhhh??” and “WTF?!” , but most importantly “Why are you showing us this?”

In retrospect, the dude was a pervert and a moron but he managed to spoil my first taste of anime. I was convinced that all anime consisted of tentacle rape and insect sex and steered clear of all it for six years. In 2000 Fox aired Vision of Escaflowne on Sat. mornings. I loved it! Anime had redeemed itself and I watched it unfailingly till Fox canned it halfway through the series. I couldn’t believe it went away. Why God, why?! Yeah, it was like that. I searched for it high and low all over the internet and in magazines that didn’t really help unless you knew Japanese.

Five years ago you had to order everything off the net or travel to a Big City where chances were still pretty low you’d find what you were looking for; box set anyone? Let’s say you did find that treasure, you had better have been prepared to lay down some serious cash, say $120 for a perfect collection. It was a real kick in the balls since it was VHS (it’s still that way for some some sets, but at least it’s divida). Harsh. Isn’t it something how far technology has come in 5 years?

Fast-forward 2 years and Cowboy Bebop came stateside. I saw one episode at a friend’s house on Cartoon Network late one night and since we didn’t have cable, it was the only episode I saw on Cartoon Network. In order to watch the series, I had to download these crappy little files off the net and watch them hunched over the computer. I saw the entire series except the final two episodes on a computer screen.

Off we went to St. Louis looking for the series but the only thing we found were individual DVDs with three or 4 episodes. We found volume 1 for $30 and we found volume 4 or something for $25. So we didn’t find what we were looking for. Surprise. Of course we could have ordered it off the web for $120. Cause what’s $120? I don’t know about anyone else out there, but I pay rent, utilities and hopefully food. $120 is a drop in the bucket…if you live with your parents.

After Cowboy Bebop I was hooked and tried to watch anything anime…bad move. Not all anime is good and I learned which genres I liked and which I despised. I disliked more than I thought I would (Neo-Tokyo-Mecha-Big-Titty-15-Year-Olds gets old reeeeeeeaaal quick). Interestingly, I came to love video games at the same time as I fell in love with anime. It’s not too hard to see the connection. My favorite video game company is Capcom who, in my opinion, has some awesome titles.

Now I pick and choose what I’ll watch; I don’t indiscriminately get anything with amazing cover art. I’ll watch what other people like, but most times I start laughing so hard I’m asked to leave. Gravion is a stellar example of what I consider utter shit. Escaflowne is an example of what I consider a series should be.

All anime is worth something to someone, I’m just broadcasting my opinion on what I’ve seen and what I think good anime should be, to me.